Review: Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Infinity (The Chronicles of Nick, #1)

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Reading Grade: Young Adult

Publication Date: March 25, 2010

Source: local library (paperback)

Age Rating: 15+ (for some profanity)

Amazon.com

At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends. . .until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.

Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.

But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he's next on the menu. As if starting high school isn't hard enough. . .now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that? 

My Review

I'm a little familiar with the world and characters of Sherrilyn Kenyon's adult novel series, Dark-Hunter. The Chronicles of Nick (starting with this novel) is a Young Adult spin-off of Dark-Hunter. I read the first volume of the manga version of the adult series, called The Dark-Hunters (review here), and that takes you about half way into the first Dark-Hunter novel. But, the main character of this spin-off, Nick Gautier, does not appear in it, so he's totally new to me.

One thing I could tell from the manga was that I liked the characters and felt they were funny, entertaining people. The same is true for Infinity. Nick is a totally hilarious 14-year-old who has a pretty crappy life, but he deals with it through the prolific use of sarcasm. Super cute kid and very heroic, even if he's not trying to be.

The other characters are wonderful, as well. In what little we see of Kyrian Hunter, I like him way more in this book than in the manga. And, my other favorite is big ol' Bubba, the gun-toting arms dealer with the kind of sass that'll warm the cockles of your cold heart. He and his littler and prettier buddy, Mark, make a great comedic team.

All-in-all, this is pretty good urban fantasy with a lot of interesting revelations throughout that are hidden from Nick until later in the story, until he gets used to the freaky paranormal stuff. Ambrose caught me completely off-guard as to his true identity. He makes a quick appearance at the beginning of the story, then disappears until the end to become a sort of 'Obiwan Kenobi' to Nick's 'Luke Skywalker.' I wish I knew HOW it was possible he could even be in Nick's life, at all!

There's no need to have read Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series in order to follow this one. In fact, it's probably more exciting not knowing who most of the characters are because it won't spoil anything for you.

My score: 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Teaser Tuesdays #4 (Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon)

"Teaser Tuedsays" is a weekly bookish meme hosted by

MizB of Should Be Reading.

 

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read.

2. Open to a random page.

3. Share two (2) teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away. You don't want to spoil it for others.)
5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers.

My Teaser

"My mom will be so disappointed after all she went through to potty train me. But once you let me live...your big mistake...now I know you think I'm too cute and fluffy to kill."

- from page 205 of Infinity (The Chronicles of Nick, #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

*****

At fourteen, Nick Gautier thinks he knows everything about the world around him. Streetwise, tough and savvy, his quick sarcasm is the stuff of legends. . .until the night when his best friends try to kill him. Saved by a mysterious warrior who has more fighting skills than Chuck Norris, Nick is sucked into the realm of the Dark-Hunters: immortal vampire slayers who risk everything to save humanity.

Nick quickly learns that the human world is only a veil for a much larger and more dangerous one: a world where the captain of the football team is a werewolf and the girl he has a crush on goes out at night to stake the undead.

But before he can even learn the rules of this new world, his fellow students are turning into flesh eating zombies. And he's next on the menu.
As if starting high school isn't hard enough. . .now Nick has to hide his new friends from his mom, his chainsaw from the principal, and keep the zombies and the demon Simi from eating his brains, all without getting grounded or suspended. How in the world is he supposed to do that?

Book Haul #8 (7/25/11)

I'd say this was a good week for me and my book hauls! Next week should be, too...

I decided to go back to hitting up my local library for some titles I've yet to read, and feel too anxious about purchasing. I hate buying a book I end up hating after I read it, so the library saves me from that possible commitment. Plus, they have some books on CD and audiobooks rule!

From the Library

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1)
by Cassandra Clare

Format: audio CD


I know, I know. How could I have NOT read this book already? I must be insane. It's only because I've been afraid I'd not like it, but I knew I'd just have to borrow it from the library one of these days so I could see if I actually would like it, or not. And, I can give my tired eyes a break and just listen to it. Sounds good to me.

Infinity (The Chronicles of Nick, #1)
by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Format: paperback


I've been wanting to read this book for a while now, and I know a little bit about The Dark-Hunter series by the same author. I just hope for some good characters.

Jane Jones: Worst. Vampire. Ever.
by Caissie St. Onge

Format: paperback


I've already starting read this and it is totally funny so far! I like stories like this that poke fun at the current popular perception of vampires and vampire lore.

From The Book Depository

Dead Iron (Age of Steam, #1)

by Devon Monk

Format: paperback


This brand new series looks really, really promising as it has a lot of elements in it that make me want to read it: historical, western, steampunk, paranormal, fantasy, a super hunky male lead as is evidenced by the super hunky male on the cover... I'm not sure it's missing anything from my perspective.

Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #1)
by Kevin Hearne

Format: mass market paperback


This series has been blasting off into the stratosphere of popularity lately! Before I realized this, I read Kevin Hearne's prequel short story to this book, "Clan Rathskeller", which is free over on Goodreads.com, and it was super funny and awesome. It sold me on the idea of buying the first book, so, naturally, I did. So far, there are three books out in this series. They are getting released like hotcakes!

That's it for me this week. What books did you all haul in?

The Dark-Hunters, Vol. 1 by Sherrilyn Kenyon

& Claudia Campos (Illustrator)

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Reading Grade: Adult

Publishing Type: traditional house

Publication Date: July 2009

Source: store purchase

Rated: Teen (14+)

Amazon.com

In the war against vampires, mankind has only one hope: The Dark-Hunters. Ancient warriors who died of brutal betrayal, the Dark-Hunters have sworn themselves into the service of the goddess Artemis to protect us.

Until Kyrian meets the most frightening thing imaginable. An accountant who's being hunted by one of the most lethal vampires out there. If Amanda Devereaux goes down, so does he and no offense, he doesn't want to die (hence the whole immortality thing). And he doesn't want humanity dead either which is a good thing for us since he and Amanda are all that stands between us and oblivion. Let's hope they win.

My Review

This review is for the MANGA version of Kenyon's adult novel Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter Novels), which encompasses the first half of the novel version of the first book. Or, so I've read, since I haven't read the book this manga was adapted from. So, I'm not able to compare it to the novel.

This story is about Amanda Devereaux, a young woman living in New Orleans who has quite a few “paranormal” relatives who all have supernatural abilities. Amanda's completely unimpressed with 'all things paranormal', and has chosen to be the black sheep of her family by taking a boring accounting job while searching for a normal husband.

She also has the tendency to date jerks, so she's not initially happy to meet the main male character, Hunter, aka Kyrian, who is a vampire called a “Dark-Hunter”. Hunter's not too polite, although he is extremely hunky and blond. Amanda and Hunter meet when they both get kidnapped by a vampire named Desiderus, who actually meant to kidnap Amanda's identical twin sister, Tabitha. Oops. She ends up hand-cuffed to Hunter for a while, and discovers his past and why he chose to become a Dark-Hunter. Hunter decides to stick around to protect her from Desiderus.

I'll just say that I think Amanda is funny and there's more to her than meets the eye. She has a good reason for choosing to lead a normal, dull life. And, at first, I thought Hunter/Kyrian was just a bit too annoying as he tried to act so cool, saying “babe” every other page, but he seemed to stop that about halfway through the volume, thank goodness. In fact, he becomes far more likable in the second half when his past is revealed as to what drove him to become a Dark-Hunter.

There is a lot of information crammed into this volume about the Greek gods and goddesses and the ancient Greeks and Romans. It all relates to these people who are gods living amongst us modern day humans. That concept is pretty cool, and the origin of these vampires is very unique. It might interest anyone into vamps just to discover how it all works in this series. But, all that info was overwhelming to me. It's probably easier to digest when reading the novel, since there's more room to go into.

Still, I thought this manga was enjoyable and funny in many places. It was very romantic comedy-like, but with a dangerous edge. Hunter kisses Amanda several times (it can get SO corny), but they don't go beyond that. The art is splendid (drawn by Claudia Campos), so if you enjoy manga-style art, you'll get a feast for the eyes. If you love bishounen (Japanese for “beautiful boys”), you'll no doubt find a few to ogle other than Hunter/Kyrian, although, he happens to be the most ogle-licious one.

My score: 3.5 out of 5 stars